Virgin London Marathon

British distance running star Sir Mo Farah has split from controversial coach Alberto Salazar and announced he will return to London to work with Gary Lough, the husband and coach of women’s marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe.

The four-time Olympic champion, however, has denied that the move has anything to do with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) investigation into his former coach and the Nike Oregon Project (NOP) that he leads.
Sir Mo announced his departure from track racing after winning 10,000 metres gold medal and 5,000m silver at this year’s International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in London and will now focus on the marathon distance.

He plans to run next year’s Virgin London Marathon on April 22.

“I’m not leaving the Nike Oregon Project and Alberto Salazar because of the doping allegations,” the 34-year-old told The Sun.

“I’m leaving simply because my family and I are moving back to London.

“We want the kids to grow up in the UK.

“My decision to move back has nothing to do with UK Athletics, I’ve let them know of my change in coach but they don’t have a role in deciding who that is.

“I chose to work with Gary [Lough] over others because I’ve known him for a very long time – since I was 16 – and we get on well.”

An interim USADA report, compiled in March last year and hacked by Russian group Fancy Bears before being released in its entirety by the US athletics site FloTrack.com, claimed that “it appears highly likely” that anti-doping rules on the infusion of legal supplements – in this case L-carnitine – were broken in the case of Galen Rupp, another Salazar charge and a training partner of Sir Mo.

The same charge is levelled at other past or present NOP athletes Dathan Ritzenhein, Tara Erdmann, Lindsay Allen, Alvina Begay and Dawn Grunnagle.

Salazar, a former world record holder for the marathon, has repeatedly asserted that his athletes “have nothing to hide and are hiding nothing”.

Sir Mo has repeatedly insisted that he has “never broken the rules in regards to substances, methods or dosages” and that he will stand by Salazar until firm evidence appears.

“This situation has been going on for over two years,” Sir Mo told The Sun today.

“If I was going to leave because of that I would have done.

“As I’ve always said, I’m a firm believer in clean sport and I strongly believe that anyone who breaks the rules should be punished.

“If I had ever had any reason to doubt Alberto, I would not have stood by him all this time.”

Lough, a former British international 1500 m runner, married Radcliffe in 2001 and played a key role coaching the 2005 world champion to what remains the fastest ever women’s time of 2 hours 15min 25sec in 2003.

He lives in Monte Carlo, though, so it is not clear how close a role he will play in Sir Mo’s training.

Lough is expected to join him on an altitude training camp in Ethiopia early next year.

Senior figures in British athletics asked Mo Farah to split with controversial coach Alberto Salazar before the World Athletics Championships in London, only for the four-time Olympic champion to refuse.

Concerned by the negative impact Farah’s continued association could have when the American remains the subject of a United States Anti-Doping investigation, a prominent figure in the sport was asked by UK Athletics to meet Farah and raise the issue after he competed in Ostrava on June 27.

Farah instantly dismissed the possibility of dropping the man who masterminded his amazing transformation from also-ran to arguably the finest distance-runner of all time after also clinching six world titles.

Salazar has always maintained his innocence, but Sportsmail can reveal that the American’s position as a distance-running consultant for UKA was secretly terminated in September 2015.

In the build-up to London 2017 there appeared to be a carefully orchestrated campaign to put distance between Farah and Salazar, with reports of a probable separation after the championships amid claims that his involvement with the Briton had been limited for some time.

That, however, was not the case. Asked on Wednesday if Salazar remains Farah’s coach, his representatives told this newspaper: ‘Alberto is still Mo’s coach.’

Clearly a compromise was reached for the World Championships, with Salazar staying away from London to prevent the situation with USADA from over-shadowing Farah’s last major event on the track and his farewell to British fans. Instead, as this newspaper revealed, Salazar sent his son.

UK Athletics had been nervous about their own association with Salazar since doping allegations about the Nike Oregon Project, where Farah trains, surfaced in a joint BBC Panorama-ProPublica report in June 2015.

Following an investigation into the Panorama claims by the Performance Oversight Group, UKA issued a carefully worded statement in September 2015.

‘In July we said that there was no evidence of any impropriety on the part of Mo Farah and no reason to lack confidence in his training programme,’ it said. ‘The Oversight Group have restated that view. They have also found no reason to be concerned about the engagement of other British athletes and coaches with the Oregon Project.’

But the UKA board took the immediate decision to end Salazar’s wider association with British distance-runners, limiting him to working with just Farah.

It meant Salazar still had a contract with UKA. But he was informed that his position as a distance-running consultant, technically unpaid as his salary was paid by UKA sponsors Nike, would not exist while the USADA investigation was ongoing.

When a USADA report on the Oregon Project was leaked by Russian hackers earlier this year, the situation once again became uncomfortable for UKA.

On Wednesday one source claimed that there was a desire to see Farah part company with Salazar before he runs in April’s Virgin London Marathon. Indeed, it was said there had been a power struggle between Marathon boss Dave Bedford and Farah prior to Farah committing to the race.

But the talk that took place in Ostrava, Sportsmail understands, was initiated by the governing body. That led to further erosion in the relationship between Farah and UKA. As we revealed in August, Farah refused to work with head of endurance Barry Fudge in the build-up to London. Fudge worked with Salazar for years.

According to one source on Wednesday, the root of the split was Farah’s frustration with Fudge for devoting more of his time to younger runners such as Andrew Butchart and Laura Muir.

UKA are looking at their future funding plans. If they decide to remove Farah from their list of funded athletes, at least they would sever links with Salazar.

Kenya’s Daniel Wanjiru was the surprise winner of the Virgin London Marathon that was held on Sunday (23) in London.

Wanjiru who came fresh winning the Amsterdam Marathon in October last year when he debut in the race winning with PB 2:05.21.

The 24 years old cut the tape with a time of 2:05.48

Kenenisa Bekele who was the race favorite came in second with 2:05.57

Bedan Karoki who came to the race with no experience in marathon came in third with 2:2.07.41 with Abel Kirui coming in fourth in a time of 2:07.45 and Alfred Sambu from Tanzania came in fifth with 2:09.10